Genome engineering may be the future of medicine, but it relies on evolutionary advances made billions of years ago in primordial bacteria, the original masters of gene editing.
Evolution
Sep 27, 2023
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39
In 2001 the sequencing of the human genome revealed a surprising fact: over 45% of our genome comes from sequences called transposons, "jumping" genes that can move within the genome, generating new copies of themselves through ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 25, 2023
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44
The key protein complex PRC2 was discovered decades ago to silence genes, but new findings by Frederic Berger and his group at the Gregor Mendel Institute show that PRC2 represses transposons in a range of eukaryotes and ...
Evolution
Sep 21, 2023
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1
Jumping genes, or transposons, are sections of DNA that can copy themselves and jump between different parts of the genome, and might help plants adapt to stressful, changing conditions, according to a study published in ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 15, 2023
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12
A fungus that infects salamanders contains multiple copies of the same "jumping genes", scientists have discovered.
Evolution
Jan 4, 2023
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228
In a new study, North Carolina State University researchers characterize a range of molecular tools to rewrite—not just edit—large chunks of an organism's DNA, based on CRISPR-Cas systems associated with selfish genetic ...
Biotechnology
Nov 21, 2022
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119
They are considered "parasitic genes." Even though they comprise over half of human DNA, much remains to be learned about them. Now University of California, Irvine biologists offer new insights into these entities known ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 23, 2022
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173
An international research team has deciphered the mechanism by which the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans is resistant to fungus-specific drugs. It is a yeast-like fungus that can infect humans. Specific drugs, named antifungals, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 3, 2022
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47
You are probably familiar with the term that some people carry "a lot of extra baggage." Usually that term refers to that person's emotional history, but in genetics and our genomes, "extra baggage" can also describe the ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Mar 3, 2022
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94
Nearly half of our DNA has been written off as junk, the discards of evolution: Sidelined or broken genes, viruses that got stuck in our genome and were dismembered or silenced, none of it relevant to the human organism or ...
Evolution
Oct 18, 2021
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785
